


[WORKING TITLE]

by KindListener



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Porn, Angst and Romance, Comfort/Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:36:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22218355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindListener/pseuds/KindListener
Summary: [Dumb] So, I’m not real? That’s a relief, being real is tough.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	[WORKING TITLE]

Ransom hums to himself as he wanders through the streets of Edgewater. The place isn’t quite like at home and it’ll take him quite a long time to acclimatise to the character of the new world he’s been thrust into. This giant mountain of a man smiles at the people that he comes across only to be greeted with frowns of confusion and concern. Maybe they were having a bad day, he reasons, shrugging it off.

The church, in Edgewater, with its domes and spires, really draws the young Tossball player in.  
“Wooooah! Is this some kind of arena?!” He yells, thinking back to the days of getting his friends riled and ready to play. People in the middle of prayer turn to stare, angry and worriedly, at the source of all the noise. When eyes land on him, Ransom gives a smile back before his shoulder is pulled on and he’s tugged into a small room to the side.  
“Do you mind?!” The older man whispers in a harsh tone but the sarcasm is lost on the young spacer.  
“Oh! Course not!” He lowers his voice to match the vicar’s. “These people just looked a little down and the echoes in here are just great.” He explains as he looks down at the shorter man. After a moment, he holds out his huge paw of a hand. “I’m Captain Ransom of the Unreliable. Who’re you?” He asks, cheerily. The vicar takes his hand, carefully.  
“Maximi— Max Desoto. I’m a vicar, here. This is a Mission, a house of worship.” He explains and Ransom gasps.  
“Oh! Oh, no! Sorry about that. It’s a funky-looking building so I didn’t really know what to do, especially with all those sad people, out there.” Max can already tell it’s going to be a rough day.

“Why don’t you tell me where you came from?” He asks, having sat Ransom down and handed him a glass of purpleberry juice.  
“Out of the sky, Mister Vicar.” He states, easily.  
“Out of the...sky? Were you jettisoned?” Max begins taking notes as this is, simultaneously, the most frustrating but most fascinating thing that’s happened all month. How sad.  
“I don’t know what that means but Phine— I-I mean, the guy that helped me, sent me down in a pod to meet a guy to take me offworld but I...kinda...accidentally...squished him. So, I came here, looking for some help because my ship’s broken and—”  
“Wait. You know how to fly a ship?” Ransom smiles and nods.  
“Yup! My pappy taught me how to aaaages ago. He was a real good engineer, y’see, and I used to be real good at learning but I think a little bit of that kinda fell out of my head when the doc unfroze me.” He explains, disjointedly, going off-topic easily.

“Unfroze? You were...frozen? Like the colonists on the Hope?” Max asks and Ransom nods, eagerly.  
“Yeah! That’s the ship I was on!” He smiles. “The doc told me I’ve been on ice for seventy odd years and that it might have some ‘adverse effects’, he called them. I got, like, nice certificates all wrapped up with ribbon and stuff but, now, I can’t...even remember the right words sometimes.” Panic looks like it’s starting to settle in. “I used to be able to say this really long word. The longest word in English, I think it was. Anti... Antidi... Nope...” Max’s eyes soften.  
“So, you weren’t always like this?” The vicar asks, dropping his pen to study the mountain of a man.  
“Pfft! No! Otherwise they would have left me off the Hope, yeah? That ship was full of...smart people. Like, real smart.” Ransom chuckles, humourlessly, rubbing at his head like he was encouraging it to speed up and run like it used to.  
“In the way of helping you with your ship, I can point you in the direction of the town’s leader. He works in the cannery, just left of here. I’m sure our paths will cross, again.” And that is how it began. With a loud yell and a hushed scolding, their relationship took off...

The ship bustles with more voices than previously, especially when Ransom plugs in the new equipment. The engine sings like a lark as ADA brings the thrusters up into working order, troubleshooting and all systems go.  
“Shall we proceed into Terra-2’s rings, captain? That seems to be an adequate solution to testing the engine, again.”  
“Take it away, ADA!”

“Woah! Check this room!” Ransom shouts as he collapses onto his desk chair, leaning his arms and head on the desk, staring out into the aether. “Jeez! That view is so cool! It’s so pretty.” He quietens down and Max wanders in, only to find Ransom lost in beauty as he stares into the void. He clears his throat, making the young man jump. “You scared me, Max.”  
“Not an easy feat, by the sounds of things.” He adds, closing the door and propping himself up on the frame of the cot.

“I just wanted to...continue our conversation, from the Mission. I want to understand you.” In his defence, Max feels an uncomfortable amount of emotion when encountering Ransom; frustration, loyalty, pity and affection. “When you said you weren’t always like this, what were you like? And can your doctor friend not help you get back to where you were?”  
“I was smart. I had so many friends. I was the captain of the Tossball team, in my region. For a while, when I broke my arm, I was the mascot because I still wanted to be supporting my team but I couldn’t with my arm. I studied. I have papers in bi...bio-sci...ence and chemi...cal eng...ineer...ing. So I was a smart cookie. Now, I can hardly read. The freezer scrambled up my egg so bad that I can’t read or write and I’m no good with numbers or long words, anymore.” He explains, softly, not looking at Max, apparently, ashamed.

“So, when we’re out there, saving people and you get embarrassed of me, just think about how I feel, yeah? I know I used to be able to talk, co... cohe... coheren...”  
“Coherently?” Max offers and Ransom nods, slowly.  
“I used to be able to and now I can’t. Think how ashamed I am, yeah? Anyway, the doc — Doc Welles — said that the damage was perm...perma— It ain’t going away! But he’s making his unfreezing juice not do that so I’ll be the only one that’s dumber and crazier than a sack of angry sprats.”  
“No matter how dumb or crazy you are, Miss Holcomb and I are along for the ride.” Max holds his arms open and Ransom rushes into them, lifting the vicar off the floor and into a bear hug, leaving him breathless. Max takes in a breath of his scent; sweat and blood and bullets and smoke. It’s...intoxicating. Maybe being on a spaceship with a big, brainless teddy bear will be better than he, intially, thought.


End file.
